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2 February 2011– Recognizing the role that forests play in everything from mitigating climate change to providing wood, medicines and livelihoods for people worldwide, the United Nations today kicked off a year-long celebration to raise awareness of the value of this important resource.

17 January 2011– General Assembly President Joseph Deiss said today he hopes “real negotiations” may at last get under way this year in the almost two-decades-long process to enlarge the Security Council, bringing the United Nations body whose decisions are binding into line with the Organization’s current membership.

10 January 2011– General Assembly President Joseph Deiss has been conferring with Chinese officials on a range of issues on the United Nations agenda, including the global anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), sustainable development, global governance, and reform of the world body.

23 December 2010– As the General Assembly wraps up the main part of its 65th session, its President today hailed the summit with which it opened for galvanizing momentum towards achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reverse a global legacy of poverty and attendant ills.

3 December 2010– Parliaments have a crucial role to play in helping States achieve the global poverty reduction goals that the world has set out to attain in the next five years, the President of the General Assembly, Joseph Deiss, said today, urging national assemblies to ensure governments stay focused on their commitments.

19 November 2010 – Issues related to global governance, the Group of 20 (G20) leading economies and Security Council reform were among those discussed by General Assembly President Joseph Deiss during his official visit to France.

11 November 2010 – The President of the General Assembly today kicked off an annual debate on reforming the Security Council by urging Member States to show the necessary flexibility and creativity needed to make progress on an issue that has been the subject of discussion for 17 years.

18 October 2010 – General Assembly President Joseph Deiss today met with the President of the Security Council for this month, Uganda’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, to discuss a number of issues on the agenda both organs of the world body.

14 October 2010 – The President of the United Nations General Assembly today underlined the need to devote increased financial and technical resources to priority areas of African development, particularly agriculture, to increase the potential of States on the continent to achieve their goals.

13 October 2010 – The President of the General Assembly Joseph Deiss today underscored the importance of microfinance as a means of alleviating poverty, citing improvements in the lot of poor women who have had access to financial services they previously lacked.

30 September 2010 – General Assembly Joseph Deiss today held discussions with this month’s Security Council President Ertugrul Apakan, Turkey’s Permanent Representative, a day after wrapping up the Assembly’s annual opening session at which many speakers called for a realignment of United Nations power.

29 September 2010 – The General Assembly wrapped up its opening annual session today with a fervent appeal from its President for Member States to show the courage needed to move beyond deadlock to achieve peace in the world’s flashpoints and translate fine words on combating poverty into action.

29 September 2010 – General Assembly President Joseph Deiss has held meetings with dozens of world leaders and other senior officials and heads of regional groups on the sidelines of high-level events at United Nations Headquarters in New York over the past several days.

24 September 2010 – General Assembly President Joseph Deiss today met with a number of leaders attending the high-level debate and thanked them for their positive statements and determination to press ahead with efforts to achieve the internationally agreed targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

23 September 2010 – Only the United Nations has the breadth of membership, the experience and the presence on the ground to effectively represent the world’s people and their interests, General Assembly President Joseph Deiss said today, warning of the risk that the Organization could be overshadowed by other international groups.

21 September 2010 – Several countries have expressed support for the initiative of the General Assembly President to make global governance a central theme of the current session of the United Nations body.

Assembly President Joseph Deiss addresses the opening high-level plenary meeting on the MDGs

20 September 2010 – The General Assembly President today urged countries, donors, civil society and the private sector to cooperate more closely to defeat poverty, hunger and disease, underscoring that a global partnership is key to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

15 September 2010 – Member States today underlined the vital role that democracy plays in reducing poverty, just days before a major United Nations summit on how to advance the ambitious development targets world leaders have pledged to achieve by 2015.

Ali Treki (right), outgoing President of the General Assembly, passes the gavel to his successor Joseph Deiss. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon applauds

14 September 2010 – The new President of the General Assembly, Joseph Deiss, today outlined the body’s priorities during its 65th session over the next year, identifying the pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), reform of the United Nations and the promotion of environmentally sustainable development as key areas of focus.